There's a new sitcom on CBS, typically the home of scripted programming that seems decades out of date. This one ups the network's hipster quotient by casting up-and-coming comedy star Rob Schneider. (/sarcasm)
| More RR Originals |
Why Rob? Why Now?
Rob is a pretty mediocre new sitcom. It's not fascinatingly awful, like the cross-dressing fiasco Work It, and its ethnic stereotypes (so far) are kind of mildly offensive -- certainly no worse than the ones on 2 Broke Girls. As with that show, the producers here are willing to get a little "edgy" with the sex jokes and broad ethnic humor, but they clearly want to appeal to a broad audience, including Latinos. But if they want it to appeal to people, why does it star Rob Schneider? Well, it's supposedly based on Schneider's own experiences being married to a younger Mexican woman.
Rob Humps Granny
Schneider plays Rob, a Caucasian forty-something obsessive-compulsive who impulsively marries Maggie (Claudia Bassols), a much younger Mexican-American woman. Then he has to meet her big Mexican family. Dad Fernando (Cheech Marin) and mom Rosa (Diana Maria Riva) are confused when Maggie first brings Rob home. They get upset when Rob bumbles his way through a family gathering, as he puts his foot in his mouth, destroys a shrine to Maggie's grandfather, and gets caught looking like he's humping Maggie's Abuelita (Lupe Ontiveros, a talented actress, largely wasted here).
Cheech and Wrong
Here are some interesting figures: Schneider is about 16 years older than Bassols. Marin is over 20 years older than Riva. Perhaps most interestingly, Riva is only 10 years older than Bassols, who plays her daughter. That should pretty much tell you everything you need to know about the typical Hollywood attitude toward the fairer sex. There's been a lot of concern voiced about this show's portrayal of Mexicans, but Rob may have an even bigger problem with women. In any case, Rob is the kind of show where it seems like they write a (dumb) joke, and then try to figure out how to get a character to say it.
Now that Rosa has called Rob a "gardener," will we be hearing much about his landscape architecture career? It doesn't really matter. At best, this show will be a mildly annoying time-killer. Let's just hope it can maintain that high standard.
Best Lines
"If getting married impulsively was a bad idea, Vegas wouldn't have chapels open at 3 o'clock in the morning."
-- Rob reassures Maggie that they haven't made a terrible mistake.
"Why do we have to go there? I sent my parents a text!"
-- Rob is not eager to meet Maggie's folks.
"Oh, Fernando, pay the cab driver."
-- Rosa naturally doesn't realize that Rob is Maggie's beau.
"I just humped your grandmother an hour ago. I'm not a machine."
-- Rob responds when Maggie suggests make-up sex.
"We can get you out of this. It's a marriage, not a gym membership."
-- Rosa offers to help Maggie.
